


all of her

by alephnull



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, F/F, Guilt, Post-Canon, Smut, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 21:52:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12117963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alephnull/pseuds/alephnull
Summary: “You missed lunch,” Max comments, sitting on the end of the bed and looking at Chloe with the softest gaze. She doesn’t deserve this, she doesn’t.“I’m sorry,” Chloe replies, and they both know that she isn’t just apologising for missing lunch.





	all of her

Though Chloe’s eyes are fixed upon the expanse of asphalt ahead of her, she is not thinking about the road. Neither is she thinking about the sleeping girl in the passenger seat nor about the storm raging behind them, because of them. Because of Chloe.

No, she is not thinking at all. Her mind is blank, blissfully so, and she revels in the momentary peace of it all. Perhaps that is selfish, when people are dying elsewhere, but since when has Chloe Price been self _less_?

Her hands work on autopilot as she drives to nowhere and everywhere, subconsciously thinking _Seattle, Seattle_. She has no intention of making the Caulfields take her in, but she knows that she needs to get Max to safety. _Max_. Chloe doesn’t deserve her, she knows she doesn’t, but Chloe will stay with her anyway, because what else can she do?

As the sky is painted with a deep, royal purple, Chloe slowly starts to think again. She starts to feel, and the aching numbness that has filled her for the past few hours begins to subside as she takes in the immensity of Max and thinks _all of her, all of her_. Max’s eyelids are still firmly shut as Chloe pulls the battered truck over, resting it on the side of a small, quiet road somewhere between the countryside and society.

Max looks so peaceful and so small and Chloe cannot help but want to hold the younger girl and shield her from some intangible entity. But how could she possibly touch her when Chloe had brought Max’s entire world crashing down? How dare she even try?

The thoughts pain Chloe so she stops thinking about Arcadia Bay and instead focuses on the way the desaturated blue of the moonlight caught on Max’s eyelashes, so soft and untouched by the horrors of the past week. Her hair is beginning to dry but her clothes are still drenched and Chloe wonders why for what feels like the umpteenth time. What has Max seen in Chloe that was worth it all? Chloe would never quite understand Max’s choice, but she respects that it is Max’s decision to make and decides, already, that is it Max’s choice to regret, not Chloe’s.

Max is the first to wake up the next morning and she does not disturb Chloe, instead managing to somehow awkwardly manoeuvre the girl into the passenger seat as Max drives them the rest of the way to Seattle.

* * *

 

“Then where will you go?” Vanessa Caulfield asks. Chloe can see where Max got her fierce protectiveness and morality from.

Chloe shrugs helplessly. “I’ll figure something out.”

Vanessa tuts, muttering something about _teenagers_ before ushering Chloe inside and Chloe can do nothing but obey.

The next day, Chloe reads the morning newspaper and scours it for job advertisements. She is determined to not be a burden on the Caulfields’ household.

* * *

 

Max’s lips are on Chloe’s and it’s bliss, it’s heaven, it’s something Chloe can’t quite put her finger on but she _loves_ it. Their tongues reach for each other, starving for the touch of one another, and they open their mouths and it’s wet and messy but _perfect_.

“Love you,” Chloe murmurs against a mouthful of Max as she breaks the kiss and moves on to kiss Max’s neck, her clavicle, her everything.

Max slips a hand beneath Chloe’s tank top as small noises of appreciation—oh, they drive Chloe _crazy_ —escape from her mouth.

Chloe cannot help but flinch and think about the reality of it all; she is with Max, doing this, and she does not deserve it.

They continue with their make out session, but Chloe remains a little distanced throughout. She cannot shake the feeling that she shouldn’t be here, that she’s just _there_ and nothing more.

* * *

 

It’s the afternoon when Chloe wakes up and Max is nowhere to be seen. She checks her phone for something, anything, but does not find texts from Max; instead, she finds a text from that shop she applied to work in. Unsurprisingly, they had denied her application. Well, that is what she gets for having such a shitty record, she supposes. At this point, her inability to get a job does not do wonders for her self-worth. She had vowed to herself to try and help the Caulfields financially, at least, but she has done nothing of the sort. She tries to help domestically instead, but she’s never been a great cook and they don’t let her do all the cleaning anyway. Apparently she’s young and needs to be going out into the world, getting an education or a job, and not resorting to being essentially a household maid. But what else can she do, when nobody will hire her? She doesn’t blame anyone for not wanting her to work for them. Her records are far from clean and she lacks any kind of qualifications.

Max wanders back up to her room to find Chloe awake, staring listlessly at her phone screen.

“Chloe?”

Chloe looks up emptily, managing a “Hi,” before going silent again.

“You missed lunch,” Max comments, sitting on the end of the bed and looking at Chloe with the softest gaze. She doesn’t deserve this, she doesn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe replies, and they both know that she isn’t just apologising for missing lunch.

* * *

 

“Chloe.” Her voice is sharp and impatient, breaking Chloe from her train of thoughts.

“Yeah?” she replies, blue eyes meeting Max’s.

“I don’t regret choosing you and I never will. Okay?” Her face lacks the careless expression of Chloe’s, a hard look sharpening the soft edges of Max.

Chloe pauses. She is too tired to argue so she just says, “Sure,” and leaves it at that. She knows that Max will be upset at her answer, but she cannot think of anything else to say.

Max sighs audibly and sits down beside Chloe, looking lost and sad and Chloe thinks _I caused this._ She wishes she could help but she feels equally adrift.

Later that day, Chloe decides to bake a cake, just because. She looks up a recipe on her phone and finds one using ingredients that they already have and makes the Caulfields chocolate cupcakes. She thinks to herself that this is the most she’s done for the Caulfields since she’s arrived and then avoids the family’s gaze when she serves the cupcakes for dessert, making sure to give Max an extra one because this was really just an apology.

* * *

 

“Get up, Chloe,” Max says, and Chloe rubs her eyes in confusion. It’s too early to be having a conversation, surely?

Max grabs Chloe by her waist and pulls her up, shoving a bundle of clothes into her arms.

“We’re going for a walk,” she explains, already fully dressed.

“What the fuck?”

“You heard me.”

They end up not talking much on the walk, but Chloe admits to herself that she feels a little less awful afterwards. And, when they did make the little conversation which Chloe could manage, Max had responded animatedly and Chloe thinks that, maybe, one day, this will all be worth it.

* * *

 

Chloe reads the letter again, and a third time, to make sure that she had not somehow misunderstood.

“Max!” she exclaims, the name slipping out of her mouth automatically. It’s all Max, all her; everything Chloe needs to say or tell someone goes to Max.

“Yeah, Chlo?” she responds as she pours them both cereal.

“This small local shop that’s opening up has hired me! I’m gonna have a job!”

The casual air about Max slips as she looks up, face practically glowing. Her eyes are crinkled with joy and her teeth show through her grin and Chloe thinks _I put that there_. Max throws her arms around Chloe, holding her as tightly as they had embraced on that day by the lighthouse, as if Chloe was Max’s tether to life itself.

Max then proceeds to plant a kiss on Chloe’s lips, still smiling, and then says, “Congratulations.”

* * *

 

When Chloe shows Max her first paycheck, she feels like _she’s_ the younger one. Max, being ever kind ( _too kind_ , Chloe thinks), responds with nothing but pride as she wraps her arms around Chloe’s neck and jumps up to wrap her legs around Chloe too.

“Woah, don’t get too cliché on me!” Chloe jokes, and Max just smiles further.

Later that day, Ryan and Vanessa are asleep as Chloe plants kisses down Max’s neck and reaches the V of her shirt. Automatically, Chloe reaches beneath the T-shirt and lifts it to reveal smooth, lightly freckled skin and the only thought in Chloe’s mind is _she’s perfect, she’s perfect_.

Max pulls away momentarily to pull off her shirt completely and Chloe brings her mouth to Max’s chest, swirling her tongue around her nipple as it hardens beneath her touch. She sucks on it lightly before moving back up to kiss Max on the mouth, hard, and Max continues to make the little noises which were going to kill Chloe one day, she could swear.

Max pulls off Chloe’s top in earnest; she is not wearing a bra and Max decides to return the favour, her own mouth landing on top of Chloe’s breast and sucking on her already-erect nipple.

“ _Fuck_ , Max,” Chloe gasps as Max continues to put her mouth all over Chloe’s body and her hands cling onto the other girl as if Chloe might be pulled away.

Chloe’s hands slip into Max’s jeans as Max kissed her torso, and Max immediately lets out a muffled moan against Chloe’s skin. Chloe hungrily unzips Max’s jeans and lets them pool at her feet, Max breaking away to meet Chloe’s eyes..

“Are you sure-?” Chloe begins, but is cut off before she can finish.

“ _Yes_ , Chloe, yes!”

And that is all Chloe needs as she carefully rubs the band of Max’s underwear, gently pulling them down as well as her own jeans so that Max won't feel as awkward.

Chloe immediately brings a hand down to cup one of Max’s cheeks and continues to press kisses everywhere on Max; her lips, her neck, her breasts, her stomach. All of Max is so, so beautiful, and Chloe cannot believe that this is happening.

Max backs up until she’s lying flat on the bed, her most intimate parts exposed to Chloe and Chloe only. All she can think about is that this is the girl she loves and the girl who loves her and all she can think about is that this is why they’ve gone through everything; this is why Chloe is alive and this is why Max does not regret her decision.

Chloe does not hesitate to step forwards to continue kissing Max, now on top of her and held up by her elbows. She works her mouth down, stomach pressing against Max’s groin as she plants kisses over Max’s nipples and then sucks on her stomach until mousy brown hair brushes Chloe’s chin and she then brings a hand to Max’s slick folds, gently inserting a finger as Max cries out.

“Is this okay?” she asks gently, because this night will really be all about her, about returning the favour for Max’s mere existence.

“Holy shit, Chloe, yes! More- more than okay!” she manages to get out, speaking rapidly and gasping as Chloe slowly moves her finger.

This is far slower than Chloe usually goes with herself, but this is Max and Chloe is always gentle with Max.

When Max seems to have gotten used to the feeling, Chloe brings in another finger, then another, and speeds up the pace of her thrusts.

Max is moaning loudly and her parents might hear, but Chloe finds herself not caring because she’s there and she’s perfect and she’s coming undone beneath Chloe’s hands and it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

The sight of Max like this, spread open beneath Chloe, is too much for her to resist and she brings another hand down to her own pooling heat and begins to work herself along with Max. She occasionally brings her fingers out of herself to rub Max’s clitoris and the cry Max makes every time she does spurs Chloe on, and eventually she abandons herself to hold onto the bedsheets as she dips her head down and replaces her fingers with her tongue.

Max comes like this, her orgasm shaking her body as Chloe continues licking her all throughout, her head encompassed by the warm cage of Max’s thighs and her wet folds mingling with Chloe’s saliva.

Max is lying there, panting, when she manages to ask, “D-do you want me to return the favour?” to which Chloe smiles, a genuine smile, perhaps the happiest smile she’s smiled in a long while and replies,

“No need. I’ll get myself off and you can enjoy the view.”

Max blushes at this but nods, watching her girlfriend insert the fingers which have just been inside Max.

They fall asleep, curled up in each other’s arms, and Chloe thinks that this is okay. This is fine. This is contentment and this is better than any fairytale ending.


End file.
